Feed-gage



{No Model.)

B. L. MEGILL. FEED GAGE No. 488.382. Patented Oct. 14, 1890.

WITNESSES mdzih h 888M UNITED STATES PATENT FFICE.

EDWARD L. MEGILL, OF BROOKLYN, NElV YORK.

FEED-GAGE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 438,382, dated October 14, 1890.

Application filed November 23, 1888. $erial No. 291,640. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, EDWARD L. MEGILL, a citizen of the United States, residing at Brooklyn, Kings county, New York, have invented certain Improvements in Gage-Pins for Printing-Presses, of which the following is aspecification.

My invention relates to devices for the use of printers, known as gage pins, feedgages, &c., and particularly to that class of such devices wherein the gage-head has a spur or prong which is made to pierce the tympan-sheet on the platen when the gage is set or mounted thereon, said spur serving to attach the gage to the tympan-sheet; and the object of my invention is to provide a thin sheet-metal gage with a spring work-sustaining arm or arms that will yield and be flattened down to the tympan-sheet by any projecting part or raised surface on the press or form that may impinge upon it during the impression.

A gage constructed according to my invention may, for example, be placed at a point on the platen directly under a gripper or under any raised surface on the form-such as patent blocks, for instance-where there is not room between such surface and the platen for more than one or two thicknesses of thin sheet metal.

In the accompanying drawings, which serve to illustrate my invention, Figure l is a perspective View of the gage as it appears when attached to the tympan-sheet. A fragment of the latter is shown, and the position of the spring work-sustainin g arms on the gagehead when they are flattened or pressed down is indicated in dotted lines in this figure. Fig. 2 is aplan View of the blank from which the gage is formed. This view serves also to represent substantially the appearance of the finished gage when seen in plan.

My gage is preferably constructed in the manner I will now describe.

I take a piece of sheet metal of a uniform and proper thickness and cut from it the blank seen in Fig. 2. This is best done by means of dies in a well-known way. The elements of this gage are the flat gage=head A, from which extend rearwardly two fingers B B, destined to rest upon the tympan-sheet when the gage is in place thereon, and an at caching prong or spurObetween said fingers, which is destined to pierce the tympan-sheet and rest beneath the same. In the front edge of the head A are formed pairs of notches a a, the metal between the notches of each pair forming a short spur or tooth a. In completing the gage these teeth a are bent so as to project downward from the lower face of the flat head A and to penetrate or enter the tympan-sheet. Extending laterally from the head A, and forming lateral continuations thereof, are spring work-sustaining arms D D, which arebcnt or curved in the manufacture so that their freeextremities stand up from the tympan-sheet when the gage is attached thereto, as in Fig. 1. In order that these arms D may lie flat when pressed down, they are tapered toward their extremities, as clearly seen in Fig. 2. 'On the front edges of the respective arms D at their extremities are formed projecting lips d, adapted to take over the sheet that is fed up to the gage. These lips 01 are not, however, essential to my invention. When they are omitted,the arms D will have plain straight front edges following the dotted lines seen in Fig. 2.

My gage is mounted or applied to the platen by inserting the spur C in the tympan-sheet and pushing it in under the same, the fingers B resting on the said sheet at the sides of said spur, and serving to hold the gage steady. When the proper adjustment shall have been effected, the short spurs or teeth a are pressed down into the tympan-sheet. These teeth serve to prevent the gage from being pushed or driven back, and to prevent the sheet that is fed from getting under the gage-head A.

By constructing my herein-described gage from-flat sheet metal of uniform thickness and cutting it out from a single thickness of the metal, with the spur O, fingers B, and arms D all integral and lying normally in the same plane, I am enabled to form it at one blow with a die at a very moderate expense, and this construction adapts it to work in a very contracted space on the press without injury to itself or to the press. Practically the gage is so thin that it will be compressed into the soft covering of the platen when subj ected to pressure, and neither it nor the parts of the press which bear upon it will be injured.

Having thus described my invention, I claim- 1. A feed-gage provided with a spur for at taching the gage to the tympan-sheet and with a spring work-sustainin g arm extending from said spur.

2. A feed-gage having an attaching-spur and a spring work-sustaining arm, said gage being composed of a single piece of metal out and bent to form.

3. A feed-gage having a flat gage-head A, adapted to rest flatwise upon the sheet, a spur for attaching the gage to the tympan-sheet, a spring work-sustainin g arm, and a short tooth a on the front edge of said gage-head and projecting downward from the lower face thereof.

4. A feed-gage havinga flat attaching-spur and two fiat fingers out integrally from thin sheet metal, said fingers arranged at each side of the spur with their upper faces in the same plane with the upper face of the spur, substantially as set forth.

5. A feed-gage provided with a spur for at taching the gage to the tympan-sheet, and spring work-sustaining arms I) D,'which ta per toward their extremities, substantially as and for the purposes set forth.

6. A feed-gage having a spur C for attaching the gage t0 the tympan-sheet, and spring work-sustaining arms D D,provided with lips d d at their respective extremities to takc over the margin of the sheet being fed.

7. A feed-gage out integrally from fiat sheet metal and having a spur for attaching it to the tympan-sheet, a curved spring work-sustaining arm, and a flat finger at the side 01 the spur adapted to rest upon the tympansheet when the spur is inserted, said gage capable of being pressed down so as to present but one thickness of sheet metal.

EDWARD L. MEGILL. Witnesses:

BERNARD GRIMEs, E. A. GIBsoN. 

